The Lighted Countdown: LED-Equipped Hourglass Lantern

By Delana

At one point in history, the hourglass was the gold standard of indoor time-telling technology. But over the centuries, clocks and timers began taking over. In this concept, the ages-old hourglass is updated with a modern twist.

Instead of falling sand, the Hourglass Lantern features LEDs in the top and bottom parts. When you begin the timer, the top portion is fully lit. Little by little, lights in the top turn off while lights in the bottom part turn on. Eventually, you are left with a lantern lighted only on the bottom. You can vary the rate of light transfer from top to bottom according to how much time you want to afford yourself.

Unfortunately, the hourglass does not seem nearly as precise as the traditional glass-and-sand variety. If only the timer included individual LEDs that could be tracked from the top portion to the bottom, it would be far easier to read as a timer and this invention might even find its way into kitchens everywhere. As it is, it would be an interesting lamp to put at your bedside to count down an hour of nightly reading time.